The Crimson Wind
by Maki-chan XD
Summary: Neji longs for the days before Gaara became Kazekage, the days when he visited the Leaf regularly. Desperate to see his lover more often, Neji keeps requesting missions to Sunagakure. When he arrives Gaara solves the traveling problem for good.
1. Chapter 1

The Crimson Wind

"Is there still an opening for a messenger to the sand village?" The white eyed Hyuga boy stood in the Hokage's office looking to request a mission that would allow him to see his lover, the leader of Sunagakure. "You sure have been asking to go out to that place often Neji," the 5th hokage, a buxom blonde woman of noticeably short temper sighed. She didn't even bother to ask the boy's reasons knowing she'd never be given an answer even if she demanded one. "But since you asked I have no reason to refuse you. I even give you permission to spend a little longer than you usually do over there." Neji, a noticeably handsome young man of 18 years of age, humbly bowed to his village leader. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

So the boy set off with the documents he'd been assigned to give to the Kazekage, he smiled to himself as he thought of handsome redhead who would be giving him an extremely warm welcome, the long trips there and back where definitely worth it. Of course he'd fallen for Gaara long before he was ever considered for the position of Kazekage.

Clad in ebony, the frail minded, emotionless embodiment of Neji's desires had snared his heart in a single gaze. Loving Gaara was dangerous; there was no doubt about that, however that risk drove the levels of passion between them to great heights. Every time he was with him it was like a rush of adrenaline, knowing that Gaara could snap and take his life at any moment, letting him run a razor sharp blade over his skin, gashing him deep and having the demon's wonderfully skilled tongue lap up the hot crimson liquid he spilt.

While he was lucky to have the lover he desired, Neji wished that he wasn't tied down to his village, before Gaara became Kazekage things were much easier for the two of them since Gaara could travel to the leaf village on missions and thus be able to see Neji more often. He didn't mind requesting missions to Sunagakure, but it was becoming embarrassing lately, he knew the Hokage thought there was something going on between him and Gaara; Neji wanted to keep his private life private, he was about to go about requesting missions in the feverish way Naruto did, making the fact that he had a relationship with Sasuke almost annoyingly obvious. He envied the fact that most couples he knew had roomed together, were on the same team, or at least living in the same village. If only there was someway they could do that.

Gaara gazed out at the seemingly endless village from the comfort of his balcony: it had only been a year and half since the Akatsuki had been defeated and peace had been restored to the world, the Hidden Leaf Village had been struck the hardest and was still trying to rebuild itself from the rubble Pein had turned it into. That meant that most of the missions handed out would be devoted to its reconstruction, and sand had been sending it's ninjas over there to help. But Gaara was no longer a mere ninja, he was now Kazekage and couldn't go out on missions in the casual way he had before, which meant he was hardly ever able to see Neji, undoubtingly putting strain on their relationship. Gaara was convinced that the only reason it had survived was due to the fact that they were both so heavily influenced Naruto's devotion to Sasuke and that the Fox Boy didn't even let his betrayal strain their love at all. If Naruto and Sasuke could make it through so could they.

"May I come in?" The Goth boy heard his brother's voice call from outside his office, "You may." Kankuro smiled knowing the news he had to give would surely bring rise to his sibling's spirits, "I know it's hard for you but brighten up a bit, I've received news that Neji Hyuga is going to be delivering the Hokage's documents to you." Kankuro was one of the three, well four, people who knew about the matter of their relationship; the others were his sister Temari, who had probed the information out of Kankuro, Naruto, who was the only one Gaara, had told directly aside from Kankuro, Sasuke knew only due to Naruto telling him but didn't seem to care much.

"When do think he'll be arriving here?" Gaara asked promptly, keeping his emotions held firmly in check. "Well it takes an average of three days for a ninja to travel from Leaf to Sand," Kankuro paused to gaze at his younger brother, who had his face set towards the window away from him to hide any facial expressions he might have release. "But Neji is no ordinary ninja..." Gaara said slowly, wisps of admiration staining the usual blank state of his voice. "That's certainly right, he'll probably take a lot less time to get here than that." Kankuro smiled reassuringly at the young Kazekage. "Be sure to prepare for his arrival. Expect him to be staying longer than usual." Kankuro's ears twitched upon hearing the last sentence, was Gaara planning something?

"Hokage-sama have you by any chance seen Neji around here?" Tenten asked shifting her gaze from side to side as she entered Tsunade's office. "Well no. He was here the other day requesting a mission to Sunagakure; he's probably half way there by now." The bun haired girl sighed, "Again? That's not fair when we're stuck in the village working on repair missions and such. Why does he keep wanting to go there so badly any way?" The blonde seated behind the desk signalled for the girl standing in front of in to come closer. "I'm starting to get suspicious too. Remember when Naruto kept on barging on about getting to go on missions related to Sasuke?" Tenten nodded. "Then along the way it was revealed that he and Sasuke had a romantic relationship; I'm beginning to think it might be the same kind of thing with Neji and Gaara-sama." The brunette gasped, shocked at the prospect of Neji having that kind of relationship with someone, let alone the Kazekage. "B-but that seems so strange, those two in a relationship? They just don't seem like the types." Tsunade smiled and sank back into her chair, "Let's have a bet; if it does turn out that those two have being hooking up on the sly, I get half your months wages." Tenten's eyes shone, "And if I win, if Gaara and Neji aren't doing that?" The Hokage flashed a grin, "You get to live here for a month, with me serving you." Tenten nodded, signalling that the bet was on.


	2. Plans

The Crimson Wind2

Arrangements, arrangements... Gaara sighed, how on earth would he be able to pull off his plan in such a short space of time? He only had about 2 and half days before Neji got to the village, and that was if he took his time. The chances of that happening were slim to none. Worst of all, the red haired Suna Nin had no idea how he was going to play this out, nor did he know how to ask for advice on this sensitive matter. It was embarrassing; he doubted anyone would be able to tell him even if he worked up the nerve to ask.

The others soon noticed the way he was acting and became rather concerned about it. Gaara was frustrated, maybe he wasn t quite ready for that kind of emotional commitment; he wanted Neji to be at his side, yet was unbelievably afraid that the Hyuga would reject him, or much worse say yes only because of Gaara s political standing. False love was the last thing he wanted.

The only person he could really feel comfortable asking was Naruto, who also had experience in the matter, somewhat. If only Naruto's goals were different, if only he weren t so deeply devoted to Sasuke...Love with the blonde might be easier, but Gaara was being selfish when he thought that way; he had someone already, they both did. And Lord knows that Sasuke needed that special someone in his life just as badly as Gaara did.

A knock sounded on the door, Gaara sighed, as troublesome as it was, he could use assistance. "Please come in," the red head didn't look up from the papers he was stamping; he worked almost absent mended, this thoughts completely elsewhere. Looks like you could use some help that. Kankuro smiled warmly at his younger brother, and seated himself in the chair straight across from him. "I dont even know where to begin," he looked aspirated, completely worn out from trying to rack his mind trying to find a solution.

"Don't be embarrassed, Gaara, tell me what you want to do?" The red head mumbled slightly, turning his head away to conceal his self-consciousness. "I would like to arrange for him to come live here in Sunagakure, but since he is a Konoha village ninja that would require me to..." He lowered his head even further. "So what you're trying to say is that you want to ask him to, marry you?" Kankuro didn t think it possible, but Gaara was actually blushing. "Well yes, I d have to." the puppet master felt somewhat awkward, the notion of giving Gaara advise on how one should go about a marriage proposal was somewhat uncomfortable, seeing as he himself he no clue.

"I guess you should somehow try to bring it up in the conversation, do it naturally, just ask him." Kankuro scratched his head; this was really novice, poorly detailed advice but it was the best he could produce. "I'd have to work on that, and I m not sure if I can do it time. Neji would likely arrive here by tomorrow night."

His thoughts were interrupted as Temari slid into the room. "What are you so worked up about?" Gaara gave her a scowling look, reminding her, that no matter the blood relation, one should not barge into the Kazekage s office without permission. "This doesn t concern you..." She gave him an odd look. "It s a personal matter," Kankuro said simply, hoping that Temari would become frustrated at not getting a proper answer and give up. He obviously didn t know his sister that well. "Oh its Neji, why didn t you just say that?" Gaara focussed his attention on a report on his desk, pretending to ignore her.

"Since Neji and so are so close and you seem to think more or less the same way, and God knows you both have the same amount of personality, which isn't very much; I say you should say what ever you want to say in the usual stoic matter." Gaara felt insulted by her statement, he was being to develop emotionally, and people could sense that, she made it out to be as if he hadn t changed at all. "Temari, you obviously don t realise what a big step this is for Gaara. We could have never before hoped that he would ever find someone who he could actually love and be loved back by. Be happy for him, he s finally starting to show sighs of happiness." Gaara silently thanked Kankuro for standing up for him; Temari had a tendency to be cold and dry towards people, regardless of the relation. Sometimes she could be plain out cruel, women seemed to be that way, Gaara was very glad Neji wasn t one.

"Obviously this would have great benefits for our village. Gaara would be happy for one thing, a happy Kazekage would equal better sprites amongst the people. Our ties with Konoha would strengthen a marriage between the Kazekage and a member of one of the Leave s greatest, most noble families, everyone would support it." The redhead remained blank and ideal, he knew this, but none of it really mattered, ties with Konoha were strong enough, he just wanted to be with the Hyuga. "I would have to ask him directly, and if he agrees, then contact the Hyuga clan and the head of Konoha to ask for their permission." Temari scoffed, "What do you mean if? Of course he'll agree, and naturally the Hyuga s will be trilled with the prospect of a member of their clan becoming the Kazekage's spouse. And the Hokage, she'll let Neji do what he wants and leave the transfer affairs as simple as possible." Gaara had left his seat and was now staring out the window at the seemingly unending sparseness of desert that covered his country. "Now all that s left is to ask." A thin smile spread across his pale face.

At the Hyuga compound Neji seemed rushed to gather for the trip to sand as quickly as possible, whilst he was busy neatly packing various items into his backpack, his cousin Hinata called to ask permission to entre. Neji confirmed her request and the shy young girl came in carrying a try of green tea and rice balls. "Neji nii-san, I brought you these, I thought you might want to eat before you departed." She bowed politely and set the try down upon his bed.

"Wait, Hinata, can you stay a bit? I'd like to speak with you." She seemed startled, it wasn t often that Neji wished to converse with her. "W-what would you like to s-speak about, nii-san?" Neji smiled, and patted the spot on the bed next to where he was sitting, signalling for her to sit there. "Y-you're going to deliver papers and r-reports to the Kazekage again r-right?" Neji nodded. "Yes and there's something I d like to tell you regarding the Kazekage." Hinata's eyes widened, she hoped it was nothing bad. "Its fine, Hinata-sama, do not worry yourself so. I merely wish to inform you of something I ve been keeping to myself; I thought you had the right to know." Hinata seemed relived, Neji smiled with amusement and he saw her sigh out softly. "This might be a shock to you, but I have well had quite close relations with the Kazekage. As an excuse to see him I ve been asking to be put in charge of delivering reports to the sand." Hinata blinked, trying to comprehend what Neji had just told her.

He let her mull it over while he consumed his tea and rice balls. "So you love Gaara?" Neji set down his mug. "Yes, and I believe he feels the same." Hinata smiled, "I understand. I'm happy for you, nii-san, and for the Kazekage-sama." Neji swung his backpack over his shoulders and began to head out. "Thank you, Hinata-sama. Please tell uncle I have left on a mission. And with that, he was off."

"There he goes, see that Tenten, he seems happy to be leaving." Tsunade smiles, knowing she had already won the bet. "He's probably just glad to be getting out of the village, I can't blame him." The bun-haired girl sighed, really envious of Neji. "The only missions I can give you right now are D-rank, stop complaining so much, you get to stay here and train. If you work hard enough, who knows, maybe you'll even become a jonin!" Tenten ignore the buxom leader s comment. "I just cant picture Neji being in a relationship... it would be so weird." Tsunade laughed heartily, "You couldn t picture Sasuke and Naruto in a relationship, and look how that turned out."


End file.
